Chapter 87: Healing The Hero
Sweetie Belle and Link (still with his mask on) woke up some time later outside of the town, on the field surrounding it. They weren't sure how much time passed, but they could see that it was dawn and that the Moon was gone. The fairies were also with them, already up, as well as Epona; and they could see the Skull Kid, now awake, not far to their right facing the Giants.
Without Majora's Mask, Sweetie Belle could now see the Skull Kid's face, which was different than she expected. She expected to see some kind of skeleton-like face (Skull Kid), but instead, the Skull Kid had a simple brown head with two small glowing orange eyes and a beak. A beak. A. Beak.
Adults lost in the Lost Woods turned into Stalfos, skeleton monsters. Kids turned into Skull Kids which, judging by their name, should also be skeleton-looking creatures not unlike the Stalchildren. But here was a Skull Kid, revealing that they looked more like humanoid birds crossed with scarecrows than skeletons.
Sweetie Belle wanted to have a few words with whoever came with the name Skull Kid about the importance of accurate naming. Bird Kid would be a much better name for these creatures.
While Sweetie Belle had an inner rant about proper names, the Skull Kid said to the Giants, "You guys... You hadn't forgotten about me?"
One of the Giants answered with a deep sound that seemed to be their own way of communicating. Thanks to the translator, Sweetie Belle could understand it, but even without it, it wasn't hard to understand that it was a simple confirmation of the Skull Kid's words.
The Skull Kid lowered his head, feeling shame and on the verge of crying as he said, "You still thought of me as a friend?"
Tatl and Tael went to confort him while the Giants looked down at him without making a sound. Then, one of them sung the same music that Link played to summon them while the three others began to walk away, returning where they came from. The fourth rapidly began to walk too while continuing to sing.
Once the Giants were gone, the Skull Kid calmed down and turned to face Link and Sweetie Belle. "Did you... Did you save me?"
Link finally removed the mask, returning to normal. Then, he smiled at the Skull Kid and nodded. "Yes, we did."
"I guess I did, but Link really did all the work. I pretty much popped at the last minute to help him fight the mask. I knew absolutely nothing of what was going on until Tatl told me the short version while we were in the Moon," Sweetie Belle said.
"The very short version," the fairy added, making Link snort.
"That's an understatement."
The Skull Kid laughed a bit at their antics before he looked back at where the Giants had been, somber, and said, "I thought they didn't want to be friends with me... But... They hadn't forgotten about me... Friends are a nice thing to have... Heh, heh."
"On this, we all agree," Sweetie Belle said.
The Skull Kid looked back at them, smiling. "Could you be my friends, too?"
"Of course!" the filly and the hylian replied happily.
Grinning, the Skull Kid approached Link and sniffed him, making him step back, before giggling. "Eh-hee-hee... You have the same smell as the fairy kid who taught me that song in the woods..."
At the words "fairy kid", Link's mood dropped a bit before he smiled back at the Skull Kid, took out the Ocarina, and played Saria's Song, making the Skull Kid gasp.
"That's you!"
Before Link could say something, he and Sweetie Belle remarked a familiar presence not far to the right. The mask salesman was now there, Majora's Mask in his hands. They could swear that he wasn't there a few seconds earlier.
"Oh... So the evil has left the mask after all..." he began before he turned his head to look at the heroes. "Well, now... I finally have it back." He then remarked the mask in Link's hands and, for the first time, Sweetie could see the salesman's eyes which were usually closed (or looked as if they were). "This mask!"
The salesman approached them, always staring at the mask in Link's hands. The Skull Kid lowered his head again, not daring to look at him, or at the mask he was holding.
"Majora gave it to us for some reason," Sweetie Belle informed.
"Can I see it?" the salesman asked, extending a hand silently asking Link to pass it to him.
Hesitantly, Link agreed, giving the mask to the salesman so he could have a better look at it.
"Yes... This is it. The Fierce Deity's Mask. How curious. So it was Majora who possessed it all this time? Why did it give it to you? Did it know the power hidden within this mask? We will probably never know." He gave the mask back to Link. "Be very careful with this mask. It possesses a lot of rage. Don't let it control you, or you could end up doing something that you would regret. It is a power that you don't want to abuse."
Link nodded.
Again, without moving, the salesman then gave Link and Sweetie Belle a small bow, hand before his chest. "Well... Since I am in the midst of my travels... I must bid you farewell." He then walked past everyone toward the town. But after a few steps, he looked back at Link. "Shouldn't you be returning home as well? Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever... Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time... That is up to you." He bowed to them again. "With that, please excuse me..." And he restarted walking toward the town.
Only to stop and to look at Link again. "... But, my, you sure have managed to make quite a number of people happy. The masks you have are filled with happiness. This is truly a good happiness."
With these last words, he resumed his walk again and eventually faded out of view like a ghost.
There was a few seconds of silence as everyone stared at where the salesman disappeared. Then, Sweetie said, "I already said it, but I'm saying it again. This guy is not human, or hylian."
Everyone else agreed with a nod.
"Well, both of us have gotten what we were after..." Tatl then began. "So this is where you and I part ways, isn't it? You know... it was kind of fun."
Link looked a bit saddened but agreed with everything she said.
Sweetie Belle sighed. "You know, this doesn't have to be a goodbye, like the salesman said. Link, I know that you want to find Navi, but this isn't worth wasting your life in the Lost Woods."
"But..."
"Tatl, Tael, Skull Kid, do you three intend to eventually return to the Lost Woods?" she asked the three others.
The Skull Kid nodded. "We want to remain in Termina, but the Lost Woods are also our home."
"Well then, when you return to the Lost Woods, can you spread the word to other fairies that a boy in green is searching a blue fairy named Navi? If they find her, then they must tell her to return either to the Kokiri village or to Hyrule's castle to find Link. He's really missing her."
"No problem. We would be happy to," Tael said cheerfully.
Link sighed sadly and said, "It's not just that..." before he sat down. "It's hard to explain. Nobody... Nobody knows what I went through to save Hyrule. Zelda... Saria... It made me feel so... out of place. Zelda thought she was doing well sending me back, and I thought too, but in the end, it revealed to be a curse... The only ones who know are you and Navi. This is why I want to find her, and why I don't feel like returning to Hyrule right now. I really don't know what else to do." He took out the Deku Mask, the Goron Mask, and the Zora Mask, and looked at them. "And after experiencing what it felt like to be... I... I feel even more empty... I don't even know who I am anymore. I d-don't... k-know... w-w-what t-to..." His words were broken by sobs before he put his hands on his eyes.
"I didn't know he had such heavy baggage..." Tatl said.
"Me too. I thought that, at worst, he was feeling the same thing than me. That after everything we went through, returning to a normal life is almost impossible so we search for... something to do. But I hadn't thought about what this whole time travel would cause to him," Sweetie said. "That must give some serious identity crisis, and that whole stuff with the masks obviously didn't help."
Tatl suddenly pulled on Sweetie's mane. "I have an idea. Come!"
"Alright! Alright! No need to pull my mane!"
Under the curious expressions of the Skull Kid and Tael, the two girls moved further away and began to whisper to each other. Sweetie Belle nodded, then became silent as she stared at Tatl for a couple of minutes before she nodded again and returned to Link.
Her horn glowed and a music that Link immediately recognised began to play.
And she sang.
"Heal your soul. Heal your mind. Heal your inner wounds.
Swordsman clad in green who stopped the mask and moon.
Look into the mirror. Just what do you see?
Empty husk, or keeper of harmony?"
The song got Link's attention, recognising it as the Song of Healing that he used to help the spirits to pass on and receive their mask and power in return. When he uncovered his eyes, he found himself in the dark, alone with the singing filly, her voice coming from everywhere around him.
Then, two fairies, a yellow one, Tatl, and a purple one, Tael, appeared at his left and his right, and there was Skull Kid, a hand on Link's right shoulder, smiling, and Epona, trotting toward him before rubbing her head against his cheek. Sweetie Belle herself approached to hug him. She looked like she had stopped singing but her voice was still echoing around him.
"Listen to your heart, Link, and look to the stars
Savior of Hyrule, you have come so far
Cast away your worries, courageous hero
The Triforce chose you, you choose where to go!"
Link suddenly felt more presences behind him and looked above his shoulder to see Saria and Zelda, both her child-self and her adult-self. Then, one by one, the other sages appeared too, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, Nabooru, and Rauru. Together, they formed a group that offered to Link their best supporting smile, Darunia even rubbing Link's hair with his large hand while Saria grabbed his hand.
Link slowly got up and looked around, seeing the Kokiris surrounding him, and the Deku Tree himself was further in the distance, giving him a proud look. Malon then appeared, followed by Link (Darunia's son). More and more familiar faces surrounded him. Malon's father, the Zora King, Lord Jabu-Jabu in the distance beside the Deku-Tree, that guard who had been guarding the gate to Death Mountain and who gave the Keaton Mask to him so he could give it to his son for him...
"You'll never be alone as you adventure
In person or spirit, we'll help you venture
With your sword, slay evil and claim victory
Unlock the land's freedom; you are the key!"
Now, he was surrounded by what seemed to be the whole population of Hyrule, or at least most of it. The people from Hyrule Castle Town, the people from Kakariko Village, the Gorons, the Zoras, even the Gerudos. All of them were looking at him, joyful, grateful, cheerful. Many of them began to acclame him, to encourage him, to thank him.
And then, he heard the familiar sound of a fairy flying.
"Remember your friends and what you're fighting for
You fight to protect the world and so much more
Cling onto your hopes and hold onto your dreams
Help one another and your light will gleam!"
He looked around to find the origin of the sound and quickly saw a certain blue fairy doing circles above his head. Than, Navi landed on his shoulder and snuggled against his neck. Gently, Link placed a hand on her, his heart feeling warm as he closed his eyes.
Then the song ended and he opened his eyes to find himself back on the field of Termina, Sweetie Belle in front of him, Epona, Tatl, Tael, and the Skull Kid at his sides. Just them, and nobody else.
But he could feel it now. Everyone...
Some tears flowed down his cheeks as he gave the filly the brightest smile he gave in a long time. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle."
"Thank Tatl. She is the one who gave me the idea and showed me the song."
"Aww, that was no-" Tatl began only to be snatched by Link who gently put her against his chest in a hug. "Hey! What are you doing?! Stop hugging me! You're embarrassing me in front of Tael!"
Tael laughed. "I don't see you trying to escape, sis."
Tatl let out a grumble at this while everyone else laughed.
"So, what do you want to do now, Link?" Sweetie asked. "Still want to search Navi? If you still want, then that's alright, but in that case I'm staying with you. As nice as the Skull Kid is, I don't want you to turn into one if you return to the Lost Woods."
Link thought for a moment as he released Tatl before he sighed. "I still want to see Navi again but... I guess that searching randomly in the Lost Woods for her isn't the right thing to do. She may not even be in the Lost Woods. Asking Skull Kid and the fairies to spread the word is a good plan, and I can always ask the Deku Tree sprout to keep an eye for her."
"Okay."
"So I guess that I should simply return to Hyrule. Maybe, in the future, I will go on an adventure around the world."
"You know, if you want, I can transport you to Future Hyrule. You remember? This is what I told before Zelda sent you back. All I would need is to open a rift."
"That's right!" Link exclaimed in remembrance. "Well, I wouldn't mind returning to Future Hyrule. But I guess that I will remain living in this version of Hyrule for now. I'm sure that I can find something to do here with this Zelda's help."
Sweetie nodded. "When I came here, I actually expected to find you as an apprentice guard, or even as Zelda's personal guard."
"That's not a bad idea actually."
"That's great! This means you could come visit us!" the Skull Kid then shouted happily.
"Wait. You can actually go to the future?" Tatl asked.
"That's a long story,' Sweetie Belle said. "How about we take some hours to trade stories?"
"I would like that," the Skull Kid said.
"Sounds great," Tael said.
"All right," Tatl said.
The next couple of hours, Link's adventures on both Hyrule and Termina were recounted, the first one to the Skull Kid and the two fairies, and the second one to Sweetie Belle, the Skull Kid, and Tael.
Link's adventure on Termina started like Tatl said. She, Tael, and the Skull Kid ambushed the mask salesman and the Skull Kid was apparently influenced by Majora's Mask into taking it and putting it on. Just after that, the three encountered Link who was travelling the Lost Woods in search of Navi with Epona and ambushed him too. Once Link recovered, the thieves escaped with the Ocarina of Time and Epona, and Link went after them through the same hole than the one Sweetie Belle used to come here.
When he landed, the Skull Kid and the fairies waited for him, having apparently already sold Epona to someone, and the Skull Kid welcomed him by cursing him, turning him into a Deku Scrub. The Skull Kid then flew away with Tael, leaving Tatl behind because she had been too busy taunting Link. So Tatl had to team up with Link to find the Skull Kid and her brother.
Thanks to his Deku Scrub form, Link was able to reach the inside of the Clock Tower where he encountered the mask salesman who asked him to retrieve the mask that the Skull Kid had stolen. In return, if Link managed to retrieve the Ocarina, the salesman would teach Link the way to return him to his former self. And all this in less than three days because the salesman was "a very busy fellow".
So Link exited the Clock Tower only to discover the situation in Termina. Somehow, while Link and Tatl were in the underground (which couldn't have been more than half an hour. Time in Termina seemed to be very fast), the Skull Kid had been very busy. He caused all sorts of calamities all over Termina and was now in the process of sending the Moon to crash in three days (they all remarked how it coincided with the salesman's time limit). The Skull Kid himself was on top of the Clock Tower, but the only way to reach him was to way for the end of the third day for the way to open, so Link had to wait.
There had been not much that Link could do in his Deku Scrub form so he had no choice but to wander the town while waiting. At the end of the third day, part of the Clock Tower tipped to the side so the clock's dial was now a platform at the top and a path to go on it had opened. Thanks to this, Link was able to join the Skull Kid but he could only get his Ocarina back. Tatl told them about the Four Giants and where they were before Link played the Song of Time (the Ocarina somehow transforming into a group of horns known as the Deku Pipes to allow him to play). With the song, the Goddess of Time granted him the possibility to return to the dawn of the first day, starting a time loop.
Back in the first day, Link returned in the Clock Tower to show to the salesman that he had the Ocarina. In return, the salesman materialized a huge piano out of nowhere and taught him the Song of Healing, allowing Link to put to rest the spirit of the Deku Scrub child and to return to normal, getting the Deku Mask by the same occasion. However, when the salesman found out that Link didn't have Majora's Mask, he got very angry and troubled and told Link more about the mask, its evil, its origin, and what it could do. He begged Link to get the mask back at all costs for the sake of the world. He even gave Link a notebook that will be very useful in this time loop. Link could note stuff in it to not forget them.
Thanks to this, through several loops, Link was able to work out a schedule to ensure that he could fix all the problems in Termina before the end of the three days. So he could save everybody (or almost...) while working to awaken the Giants. This allowed him to obtain all these masks that he had to give to receive the Fierce Deity's Mask. But he just wanted to do it to be sure that everyone was safe by the end of the loops. And if he had to use the Song of Time before he could save everyone or failed somewhere, then he would just restart.
Link didn't count how many loops he did, but thankfully it wasn't much. He quickly learned to organise his schedule. Right from the first loop, when he had been stuck as a Deku Scrub, he had seen a few problems that he hadn't been able to intervene. Then, during the second loop, he spent most of his time exploring Termina and speaking to the inhabitants. Already, by the end of the second loop, he had had a good idea of what to do and he had even already helped fix a few problems.
It really was from the third loop that he started to act to fix everything. He even learned to play a different version of the Song of Time so days lasted twice as long (and yet people continued to follow their schedules as if it was normal). And he quickly discovered that he kept all the gears he obtained even when he reset the loop so, from loop to loop, he could do more and more stuff faster and faster. By taking shortcuts for example. Finding and obtaining Epona as soon as possible also greatly helped.
Eventually, he was able to do everything in one loop. Helping everyone, lifting the curses, without forgetting beating the powerful guardians of the temples.
Link actually joked that he could now reconvert into a scheduler if he wanted.
The rest, Sweetie already knew. With everything done, Link went to confront Skull Kid on the Clock Tower (which was apparently a close call because he had to wait pretty much the last minute for a guy turned into a child to join his lover) and played the song to summon the Four Giants to stop the Moon when the filly appeared.
Truthfully, Sweetie Belle was both sad and glad that she didn't get to participate in one of these time loop adventures. She wasn't sure how well she would have fared, but she regretted the missed opportunity. "Going through a time loop" would have looked nice on her adventurer résumé.
After they were done, Link was curious to know what Sweetie Belle did since she left him so she also recounted some of her adventures, to the amazement of the Skull Kid and Tael. Even Link couldn't help himself but have stars in his eyes when Sweetie Belle recounted her space battles against the Space Pirates and the Aparoids.
Boys and space stuff.
And there were several gulps when Sweetie Belle told them about Crakkthulx.
Of course, Sweetie Belle took the occasion to tell Link about the army and the two Gods. Link immediately reassured the alicorn that she could count on him to help against them and any other threat that would show up. He will gladly join.
Finally, after drawing themselves and the Giants on a boulder as both a token and a memory of their friendship, Sweetie Belle and Link bid goodbye to the Skull Kid and the fairies before they left Termina and returned to Hyrule through a rift.
Author's Notes Part 2:
Thank you very much to The Kelduo for the lyrics of the song. There is one thing that I always found very sad in Majora's Mask, above all the tragic stuff in it.
Link used the Song of Healing to help others...
... when he was the one who needed it the most. 
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I'm going to assume this stands for something in French (despite being Canadian I don't actually speak it
); From context I think you're talking about a résumé (which we do tend to leave the accent marks on when they're available because we're a bulls
Frankenlanguage from hell).
I do wish that one day we get a zelda game where the cycle ends. probs wont happen but would be nice just to see the end
11221355
Ah, I thought that English people also used Curriculum Vitae to name the paper they give to show their potential future boss their career until now. Thanks.
Good Lyrics for the song of healing, but I for one like more this one
11221617
Yeah, they are good, but that's not the same context. They wouldn't have worked that well here.
11221626
That is also true
11221626
Are we going to see Ness next or the first Smash Bros adventure next?
11221878
First, there will be a quick passage to the Pokémon World. Then we will go to F-Zero, then Earthbound, and finally one last return to the Pokémon World before I end the first Saga.
11221922
Alright so do after the first saga,are you gonna take a Break or something?
11221973
Nope.
11221983
Well if you’re fine with that,be my guess and continue right away.
It really wouldn't surprise me if the salesman had an account on chaos.net.
11222589
Ahah. True. But I wouldn't be surprised either if he was member of some forum where the mysterious merchants go to chat. I like to imagine him being good pal with the merchant from Resident Evil 4 that likes to displace people by selling them trinkets belonging to a random character which has for result to turn the guy/girl into said character and to send him/her into a random world like Equestria.